Is leprosy bacillus a chemo-autotrophic nocardioform organism?
Article
in English
| IMSEAR
| ID: sea-54713
ABSTRACT
Numerous attempts at in vitro cultivation of the leprosy bacillus have all proved to be unsuccessful. Recently, we have repeatedly isolated chemo-autotrophic nocardioform (CAN) organisms in pure culture from multibacillary cases of leprosy. We find that these resemble the leprosy bacillus in many respects and suggest that the leprosy bacillus may be closer to the genus Nocardia than to Mycobacterium, and that it may be a chemo-autotroph, requiring only simple sources of carbon and nitrogen for its growth. This is in contrast to most other human pathogens, which are heterotrophs requiring complex sources of carbon and nitrogen for their growth. This could offer a possible explanation for the repeated failure at in vitro cultivation of the leprosy bacillus.
Full text:
Available
Index:
IMSEAR (South-East Asia)
Main subject:
Species Specificity
/
Humans
/
Leprosy
/
Mycobacterium leprae
/
Nocardia
Language:
English
Year:
1990
Type:
Article
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